Monterey Pop

(Note: This review refers to the Blu-ray version of the DVD.)

Two years before Woodstock, Lou Adler and John Phillips (of the Mamas and the Papas) launched the first (and only) Monterey Pop Festival: three days of music that kicked off the summer of love with a San Francisco-flavored festival of rock, folk and soul. D.A. Pennebaker's film of the event, "Monterey Pop," is a concert film as a cinema vérité documentary, a little shaggy, a little low-fi, up close and intimate and very much in tune with the audience basking in the joy of the music, like the rock music version of "Jazz on a Summer's Day." But he also captured dynamic performances by Janis Joplin and Otis Redding, before they became superstars, and an unforgettable Jimi Hendrix, who enters the film like a rock shaman and ends his set by burning his guitar, like a holy offering to the gods of music.

The rough, grainy footage doesn't look appreciably better on Blu-ray but it's a beautifully produced edition with all the supplements of the previous DVD release. The film features commentary by and new video interviews with festival producer Adler and director Pennebaker, archival audio interviews, and two hours of outtake performances: 30 songs by 16 acts in all, including Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" (how did this not make the final cut?) and four songs by Tiny Tim shot on the green room. A second disc features two short films Pennebaker later created from unused footage ("Jimi Plays Monterey" from 1986, a 50-minute presentation from his legendary set; and the 20-minute "Shake! Otis at Monterey" from 1987), and there are booklets with essays and notes.